I had intended attending last week's Jewish Agency-sponsored tax conference in Manchester. But I didn't get there as I couldn't get any sense from staff at the internationally-renowned firm of accountants due to host the event.
I'm rather deaf and simply wanted to check if a microphone would be used. Instead I received a curt response at reception and was twice put through to the wrong person - once in London! - so I decided to give it a miss.
If that was a bad job - a 'regular Yiddishe gescheft' as my folks used to say - I'm beginning to wonder whether I'll be to make any sort of a living when we go on aliya.
Twice I've sought no more than potential business contacts so I can continue trading once settled and twice I've received very negative feedback.
I'm begining to sense an unbridgable gap between the policies of the Israeli authorities in their wish to find olim chadashim employment and the natural fears and inclinations of native-born Israelis or long-term residents who, as the recession bites yet harder, are desperate to guard their own backs.
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